Middlesbrough Football Club

• Nickname:Boro
• Founded:1876
• Manager:Tony Mowbray

• Ground:Riverside Stadium
• Capacity:35049

Southgate hails best display

10 Dec 2007 - 07:31:46

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Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate claimed Sunday's 2-1 victory over leaders Arsenal was easily their best performance of the season.

Stewart Downing and Sanli Tuncay scored to give struggling Boro their first win in 12 league games.

But afterwards Southgate claimed that although the players deserved to enjoy their victory, they needed to perform on more consistently if they are to avoid being drawn into a relegation dogfight.

"(It was the best) No question," he said.

"We played very well here against Birmingham (won 2-0 in September) but the quality of Arsenal's team is there for all to see.

"Hopefully the players can see what they are capable of now.

"It's been quite depressing at times but we've tried to stay positive and one or two are starting to score goals now. But it's one afternoon and we have to be more consistent.

"It always a chicken-and-egg situation. We're not scoring and it's putting pressure on the defence.

"Both aspects of the team have had to be better and they were today.

"The concentration levels were good. We caused them a lot of problems."